walking through the bustling market, jihoon waved at the friendly shop owners who greeted him. the boy scrunched his nose which was already coloured a light shade of red from the crisp morning air.
he looked up at the almost bare trees as he headed to a shop selling candy nearby. the sounds of chimes filled the small shop as he walked in and savoured the warmth from inside along with the faint smell of caramel.
a plump lady with a fiery red braid, stood behind the worn counter placed down the steaming cup she was holding. she looked up and greeted the boy with familiarity, "good morning jihoon! it's getting colder and colder these days am i right?"
rubbing his cold ears with his equally numb fingers, jihoon laughed. "it certainly is. one of these days, i guarantee we'll wake up to see white covering the ground."
the lady hummed and turned around to the shelves filled with jars of all sorts of bright coloured candies. "the regular?" she asked, grabbing two small bags full of assorted sweets.
jihoon opened his mouth but then changed his mind, "actually could i get two more bags? one filled with salt water taffy and the other with those peppermint ones." grinning the lady did as he asked. she swiftly tied the bags and slid the four bags over to jihoon who dug out a few coins and placed them down.
she took a sip from her cup, "peppermint... you hate those."
jihoon grinned, "but you know who doesn't? seungcheol."
"he's coming back today?" the lady beamed, "all the children are going to be delighted to hear that cheol's trinkets and toys will be open again."
a small laugh slipped from jihoon's mouth when hearing the name of seungcheol's toy shop. he nodded his head, "and i have a feeling he'll be back with some good news. after all, i did see him slip a ring box in his bag before leaving.." the lady's eyes lit up with excitement. tossing her braid behind her, she took another gulp from her cup.
"so if you come back next week with a smile on your face.... i'll know."
it has been three months since jihoon had left nytis and started living with soonyoung in reinwa.
"listen son... i'm sorry." he father said, sighing once again, "your mother is sorry. we're both very sorry. when you ran away, i was outraged at jisoo and you. i kept on thinking to myself what was wrong with you? how did i screw up while teaching you?"
shiwoo looked at soonyoung and jihoon from across the couch. "while you were gone, i did a lot of thinking and talking to your mother. i apologize for yelling at you and for hitting you. i've realized that... maybe i'm not the great father figure that i imagined in my head. all i've been doing is thinking about kingdom this, kingdom that and not enough 'soonyoung'."
yoonsun nodded in agreement and continued, "arranged marriages is what we've grown up with and what everyone else is doing right now. as a child of royalty, we have been taught how to fall in love with someone random who we are forced to be with. that's why everything was so.. so.. foreign to us when you said you fell in love with someone."
"your mother was much better at understanding," said his father, taking over again. "and.. as more time passed i think i've been starting to get it too. we can both clearly see how in love you are with this boy. i mean, you're willing to argue, fight, even run away for him. it's rare to find someone like this and so... both of us have decided to call off the arranged marriage."
soonyoung's mouth hung open as he stared at his parents sitting across from him, "because in the end, it'll be you who will be ruling over reinwa not us. it doesn't matter if we're not forming an alliance with some other kingdom, i've been focusing on that for too long. it's time for me to start focusing on you."
